As many as 31 out of 36 states and Union Territories (UTs) have set up Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) and have disposed 103,784 complaints, the Union government says.
In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Kaushal Kishore, minister of state for housing and urban affairs, says, "As per the latest information available with the ministry (as of 3 December 2022), 1,03,784 complaints have been disposed of by the real estate regulatory authorities and 98,523 real estate projects have been registered under RERA across the country."
Members of Parliament (MPs) Rajveer (Raju Bhaiya) Singh and Bhola Singh have asked for information on housing projects under RERA. They also wanted to know steps being taken by the government in augmenting all the agencies in facilitating earliest delivery of possession to home buyers.
According to Mr Kishore, the minister of state, RERA mandates the promoter to declare the period within which the real estate project has to be completed. Further, Section 18 of RERA provides that, in case the promoter fails to complete or is unable to give possession of the apartment, plot or building, as per the terms of the agreement for sale, he shall be liable to refund the amount along with interest and compensation to allottees.
"Furthermore, in order to give relief to home buyers of stalled projects, a special window for completion of affordable and mid-income housing (SWAMIH investment fund) has been created for funding stalled projects that are net-worth positive and registered under RERA, including those projects that have been declared as non-performing assets (NPAs) or are pending proceedings before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC)," he says.
Information provided by the government shows that all states and UTs have notified rules under RERA except Nagaland, which is in the process of notifying the rules.
Around 31 states and UTs have set up RERA, including 25 regular and six interim benches. In contrast, Ladakh, Meghalaya, Sikkim and West Bengal have notified the rules, while they are yet to establish the Authority.
There are 24 regular and four interim real estate appellate tribunals (REATs) set up by 28 states and UTs. Arunachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Sikkim and West Bengal are in the process of establishing RERA tribunals.
Regulatory authorities of 28 states and UTs have operationalised their websites under the provisions of RERA. Arunachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Manipur are under process to operationalise their portals.
As of December 2022, 98,523 real estate projects and 72,108 real estate agents have registered under RERA across the country, the minister says. However, in states and UTs like Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, West Bengal, Jammu & Kashmir, and Ladakh, not a single real estate project and real estate agent have registered.
RERA has an inbuilt fast-track dispute resolution mechanism to redress the grievances of the consumers where the complaints are to be disposed of within the prescribed timeframe by the adjudication officer of RERA and REAT.
(Unstarred Question No1446 Date: 15/12/2022)
